Keg Fridge Cold in Summer Hot in Winter

[evandam]

Ok, I searched on this, but I couldn't find anything. Here are the details.

I have a 7ish cubic foot freezer with a Johnson temp controller set at 40. The probe is mounted on the wood that is a part of the collar. The collar is not insulated other than the wood itself. This summer when it was 90 my thermo I have in the freezer read like 38 and I had some frozen beer. The thermo and the probe for the controller where high in the freezer so I figured hot air rises and maybe it is cold at the bottom and not so much at the top. So I installed a fan to circulate the air and it seemed to get better. Well now it is 35 or so at night and mid 60's during the day. Now my thermostat in the fridge is showing 48 and the beer tastes hotter. I also took the probe off its mount and left it in the middle of the freezer and still 48. The only other thing I can think of is that the majority of the probes wire it outside the freezer. If you know the Johnson controller it is this weird stiff copper wire. The next step is to get that in the freezer, but that is a wild guess. Sorry this is so long. Any ideas.

 

[Aleforge]

You mounted the controller "inside" the freezer? If thats the case thats probley why its not staying steady.

 

[madewithchicken]

Is your freezer actually outside? I am not sure what a temp controller would do if the air around it is colder than the air in the freezer.

It can not hurt to get as much of that wire in the freezer.

After that double check the thermostat on the freezer to make sure it is not turn on low or anything.

If that does not work try just plugging the freezer in like normal with out the Johnson temp controller. This is to test the freezer. It is possible that the freezer is just shot.

I have never owned one of those temp controllers so take that into account when following my advise.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Put the probe in a container of water at the bottom of your keezer. Or, tape it to the bottom side of a keg, preferably one in the middle of the keezer.

The temperature at the bottom of the kegs is what matters, you serve from the bottom.

 

[kladue]

The funny copper wire on the johnson controler is a small copper tube with the sensing gas inside. If you have more than a couple inches exposed outside it will respond to what the tube see's instead of the probe.